The efficiency of a continuous flow machine, which is achievable, increases with the permissible temperature of the gas flow. Therefore very high temperatures are desirable. In this context, it is usual that the casing and/or the rotor shaft of the continuous flow machine are shielded from the hot gas flow by heat shield segments. These heat shield segments cover cavities, which communicate with one another and with a cooling air source, so that also at very high gas flow temperatures an effective protection of temperature sensitive components can be achieved.
The heat shield segments on the rotor side can be formed, on the one hand, as part of the base of the rotor blades on the side of the rotor. On the other hand, heat shield segments can also be provided between axially neighboring rotor blade rows, separate from the rotor blade bases.
Between adjacent heat shield segments in the circumferential direction there are inevitably gaps, which extend transverse to the circumferential direction of the rotor shaft each side of a parting plane, which forms the gap center. These gaps can cause a more or less pronounced leak of the cooling air, which flows through the above-mentioned cavities.